3. ONG-BAK (dir. Prachya Pinkaew, 2003)
Not all of the best fighting movies come from China (although most sure as hell seem to). In fact, a recent edition to one of the best ever hails from Thailand, where badass superstar Tony Jaa made a huge splash with the no holds barred Muay Thai actioner Ong-Bak. Jaa stars as Ting, a Muay Thai expert charged with traveling to the big city to retrieve the head of a sacred Buddha statue stolen from his tiny village. He barely makes into the city limits before running smack dab into a superior freerunning chase scene and from there into an underground fighting tournament. In one particularly brutal fight scene (of many), Jaa takes on stuntman David Ismalone, who redefines “fighting dirty” when he uses every foreign object at his disposal to beat Jaa into submission. But Jaa is the star here, kneeing every mofo in the face with a physical grace matched only by his rage. Jaa’s follow-up, The Protector, arguably has more impressive fight scenes than Ong-Bak, but this film’s simple storyline and brutal action make it the preferred choice in our eyes.
2. LEGENDARY WEAPONS OF CHINA (dir. Lau Kar-leung, 1982)
Making his third appearance on this list, director Lau Kar-leung turns in what may be his career defining work in Legendary Weapons of China, in which he also co-starred. With guns making their way into China, “magical” kung fu warriors are scrambling to find a way to use martial arts to defeat a bullet. Lau Kar-leung plays one such warrior, who knows that magical kung fu is based entirely on illusion and deserts the war effort. Gordon Liu tracks him down to kill him, leading to a series of amazing fight scenes, many of which expose the tricks of special effects-laden kung fu movies in an effort to celebrate real fighting. The final fight sequences use every single legendary weapon of China, from twin broadswords to battle axes to three-section staffs to chain whips, eighteen in total, in one of the most impressive martial arts exhibitions ever filmed.
1. ENTER THE DRAGON (dir. Robert Clouse, 1973)
Still the best fight movie – and maybe it always will be – Bruce Lee’s magnum opus starred the most famous kung fu master in the world as a Shaolin monk who infiltrates an underground fighting tournament (before it was a cliche) to bring its evil mastermind to justice for betraying the temple and indirectly killing Lee’s sister. Along the way he teams up with the Black Samurai himself, Jim Kelly, and John Saxon (who was a bigger star back then) in a series of iconic battles, including a brutal beat down with Bolo Yeung, an early cameo appearance from Sammo Hung and a classic House of Mirrors finale with future Drunken Master co-star Shih Kien. You could argue that other films on our list have more elaborate choreography, but director Robert Clouse (who would go on to direct other memorable fight movies like China O’Brien and Black Belt Jones) infuses his film with a James Bond-like swagger as three symbols of unbridled masculinity badass their way throughout the movie like the shirtless icons that they are, and makes the short but vicious fight scenes as powerful as they come.
